English
For I suppose the truth must be one; and if either of us could teach the other what is truth throughout, we should then agree entirely." "I do not see," answered Vidy6x5h6rya, "why the truth should be one. Two witnesses may see things differently, yet both relate truly what they have seen." " Truly, perhaps, as they think," said Blancombe ; " but not in truth as the things are. But for a man to have ever so much truth of intention, in the sense of sincerity, will not save him from suffering miserably, if he mistakes for food what is truly poison; or if in many other modes he con- ceives of outward things otherwise than as they are. So, perhaps, as regards this question of religion, if a man have an unworthy conception of God, he may, by so conceiving, deprave his mind, or insult the Majesty of Heaven; or again, if he associate his conception with untrue accounts of facts which have not really occurred, it may become gradually warped ; or he may lose all anxiety about historical truth in the sense of reality, and all power of distinguishing it from falsehood. But if a particular fact happens only in one way, or if a being is of any definite kind, it is clear that one account only of either can be the truth." " I know," said Vidy&chirya, " that it is difficult for your countrymen to conceive of this matter as we do; and, TRUTH AND SENTIMENT. 157 perhaps, that very difficulty shews we were intended to be different. That things, however, have happened to you, we do not deny; but that the same things have happened to us, we are certain is not the case. What, however, should prevent your accidents from being a vehicle for teaching you the spiri- tual truth which purifies the heart, and our accidents also from leading us in the path of ultimate liberation? or, if you wish me to use your term, I have no objection to say redemption. That we agree in praising certain virtues, and in making them moral requisites, is with you a reason for seeking farther agree- ment; whereas to me it shews clearly that anything farther is unnecessary." " You imply," said Blancombe, " that we may have the essential sentiment of piety in common, though we differ as to the facts or images which we associate with it." ViD. " Possibly so." Blanc. " Just as the sentiments of love and hatred may be expressed in many different languages, with every variety of sound, and yet they will be essentially akin in every case." ViD. " That is very much what I mean to say." Blanc. " Then we may notice, even in this illustration, that no one loves or hates, except under the belief that the object of either sentiment is really lovely or hateful, so as either to attract or to irritate. Probably then there is no such thing anywhere as feeling without an accompaniment of supposed fact; and be- lief, either true or false, must, after all, go along with sentiment, and be the mould in which our very affections are cast. But now consider our question in this way. Have you not a prayer which you call the Gayatri?"' ViD. "Certainly; we pray in that sacred text that the adorable light of the Divine Ruler may enlighten our minds." Blaxc. " Thank you ; and by the Divine Ruler in that text you mean the spiritual sun or the divine enlightener?" ViD. " Whom else could we?" Blanc. "Then I should be afraid of asking you whethei this divine being teaches truth or falsehood; but have you 168 UNITY OP TRUTH — HINDU PREDICTION. considered sufficiently that whatever he teaches must be true alto- gether, and that you have in this prayer no feeble testimony to the sacred duty of searching for the highest knowledge we can attain of the only true God ? Surely, my friend, that which he is to one man he must be also to another. You, who have such grand conceptions of infinity and spiritual omnipotence, can never think that our little differences of skin, and hair, and tem- perament, are worthy of mention, when compared to the deep thoughts of our souls in the sight of that pure Being whose thought, you say, is the world, and to whom you also imply that time and space are only conditions of his action, and infinity the range of his creative will. Especially, if we come forth from him, as you say, like sparks from a flame, we must be all capable of remounting to our source; and this affinity is a greater reason for our seeking alike the eternal truth than any external accidents can be for our acquiescing in distorted frag- ments of it. I can hardly, indeed, conceive how variety of country is to alter truth, unless it can first alter the very being of the eternal God; but as he has given to all mankind one reason, though from imperfect education they partake unequally of it, so I augur that he has for all men one revelation of him- self, though from moral backsliding or inadequate teaching many men have as yet fallen short of learning it. Have I not, indeed, had a passage shewn me in one of your sacred books, which not only declares faith in Vishnu to be universally possi- ble, but prophesies that it shall be brought about and rendered universal?'* " You may," answered Vidydchdrya, ** have seen a passage to that effect in the Sri Bh&gavat*." " Well," proceeded Blancombe, " that is a far more cheering anticipation, than the dreary prospect you held out of many races being doomed to almost hopeless ignorance. Suppose we start on this more hopeful track; and let us consider whether you or I can do most to improve those among the natives of • Wilaon's Ancdysu, Pref. V. Pur. WOBTH OF PROBABILITIES. 159 India whom you lament as snnken in ignorance or vice, and whether also either of us can convince the other." " Why," said Vidydch^uya, " I am far from pretending to equal you either in enlightenment, or power of argument; but as regards our religion, I have partly explained it, and, if you wish it, I am ready to do so farther." " Well, we have gained something," remarked Blancombe, ** if it has appeared, either from reason, or from your own sacred books, that as God is one, so truth is one, and that the tendency of mankind hereafter will be both to improvement in other things, and also to unity in the knowledge of God." " Before we go farther," asked Sad^nanda, " should not the stranger tell us what he thinks of the systems which he has heard expounded, and since he agrees partly with them all as opposed to the Ch&rv4cas, which of the three he prefers?" "You mean," said Blancombe, "which of the three I prefer in itself, apart from the authority of the sacred books?" " Pre- cisely so," replied the other. "Whether then am I quite justified in making such an attempt?" said Blancombe, hesi- tatingly, and half to himself. " For many things about the Deity may appear to our feeble capacity strange, which yet if taught us upon proper authority, we could not venture to deny. It is true that any immorality in a doctrine would shock the conscience, and self-contradiction would repel the reason; and, according to my own argument, our mental perceptions have quite as great authority to persuade, as our sight or hearing. So that there may be inherent in a religion a sort of internal evidence of its truth, so far as it is good or the contrary. Still, if I re- flect, how inadequate all our faculties must be to comprehend the Infinite Being from whom they came, and how negative our ideas become, either of mind as a thinking principle, or of spirit BS a creative power, the moment we attempt to describe their character, instead of contenting ourselves with asserting their reality, then I must confess that any uncovering of Himself by the Deity would easily outweigh all our refined speculations ; and 160 ASPECTS OF BUDDHISM. I am half inclined to wait for some command to believe, instead of determining beforehand what is believable. There are, how- ever, limits to this predisposition in favour of assent; since the laws of thought, or what perhaps my friends here might call the spiritual limits applicable to mind, seem to give us a primary- revelation of God, which, as coming from himself, we may be confident he will not set aside. I particularly hesitate," lie con- tinued, now raising his voice, " as to offering any criticism upon the doctrines of our pious friend the Saugata Mtini. For he appeals expressly to the authority of Sdkya or G6tama, though he considers him as an aspirant in the course of human develop- ment, rather than as a divine revealer.